Brighton apologise for Japanese soldier post that caused offence in China

Brighton have sinceapologised for “any offence caused in China” by a post that featured a World War Two Japanese soldier.

Kaoru Mitoma, a youth player from Japan, and Hiroo Onoda, a youth player, posed with a football card in front of the club’s academy.

29 years after the Japanese nation’s humiliating defeat in the war, Lieutenant Onoda was the last Japanese soldier to formally declare surrender.

Brighton’s post was content in China because of Japan’s war crimes against humanity.

Fans on the Chinese social media platform Weibo have caused some backlash by posting their anger and disappointment.

Because he did not think the war was over, Onoda remained imprisoned in the Philippine jungle for 29 years before giving up. On his return to Japan, he was greeted with a hero’s welcome.

Despite killing 30 people on the island of Lubang for mistaking the enemy, the Philippine government granted him a pardon.

The club regrets “sincerely” for any offence caused by a recent post about our academy’s participation in the Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament in China, according to the club’s academy.

“We had no intention of offending anyone in China,” the statement read.

The post also stated that the club’s under-12 boys team had won the Premier League Education Project and would travel to Belgium to compete in the Christmas Truce Cup.

The Premier League stated that the tournament “provides an opportunity for academy U12 players to test their footballing abilities against top European clubs while gaining an understanding of the historical events that shaped our world.”

Football matches are played in a number of locations throughout the tournament, which is named after the string of spontaneous ceasefires that broke out between British and German soldiers around Christmas 1914.

Officials from Brighton have informed BBC Sport that the incident was a genuine error and that neither the club nor the Premier League knew about it.